Saturday 28 March 2009

Back to normality

Just a plain ould boring 10 mile run this evening. It was n't too warm but the humidity was unreal. I was taking it fairly handy but I was still absolutely saturated after 5 miles. In other news I rang the local Garmin dealer about getting a new Forerunner. They had them in stock for 950Riyals (aorund 200euro). I can probably get one from the states for about 135euro but will have to wait about a month for it so will probably bite the bullet as I feel lost without it (how sad am I?!) 10 miles @7.15min/miles (Approx)
Total for week: 67miles

Friday 27 March 2009

15 minutes of fame!

Got my first win under my belt today in The Ras Laffan Pearl Village Half Marathon. But I must admit I didn't beat too much. My time of 79.09 (for 21k, which I think is just under 100m short of official distance) was ok. Was on for 78 minutes untill the last 3 or 4 K where I faded a good bit which was to be expected as I hadn't eaten much (2 bananas!) beforehand and only took on water during. The next competitor was 10-15 minutes behind so it was pretty much a race against the clock. I must say it was a very enjoyable experience. I can remember getting the usual race feeling of 'I can't wait untill this is over' but then I thought hey when am I ever going to be leading a race again so I just savoured it. The crowds were great as it was around the camp so there was plenty of support. Was a bit aprehensive before hand, more nervous than I've ever been as all my colleagues were saying I'd run (literally) away with it but there's always the fear that there's someone better around. At the gun 5 guys took off fairly quickly, but there was only one that looked dangerous as he appeared to be doing 5min/mile pace. I need n't have worried as after about 600m he slowed considerably & I passed him before the 1K mark. Before the 2K mark the photographer in the lead car told me I had a 7 lampost lead (about 100m) and it was at that point I was fairly confident it was in the bag. The photographer obviously felt likewise as he got out of the car!! Kept the pace up as it felt comfortable and just concentrated on picking off the K's after that. Felt like a mini celebrity at the end as loads of guys were asking for their photo's to be taken, although when I went for a run in the evening only one or two guy's waved so I don't think I'm gonna be hounded for autograph's or anything.

Anyway Tuesday: 6.5miles easy
Wednesday: 6.5miles easy
Friday: am 14.5 miles (0.75warmup 13mile Race 0.75warmdown)
pm: 6.5miles easy

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Custer's last Stand!

I'm pissed off. I homesick, tired and have an insect or arachnid bite on the side of my leg that swelled up to the diameter of a fried egg. Added to that my Garmin stopped working yesterday. Sunday was long run day but I decided to 'only' do 14 as there's a half marathon here on friday next. Managed the 14 alright but it has to go down as one of my must unenjoyable runs ever. Just couldn't get into a rhythm. This was partly due to the fact that the roads around the camp are literally overrun with 'newbies' with the race coming up (there's a 3k and 6k on aswell). Now this is great as the more people running in the world the better, but some of the guys from India have an annoying habit of 'latching on' when you pass them. They spend the next half mile or so panting like maniacs and pretty much in your back pocket. This causes me to subconciously speed up untill I drop them but there always seems to be a replacement around the next corner. Hopefully after friday they'll sink back into retirement!! A buddy of mine suggested to use it as a Fartlek session but the name of that particular training method gave me an even better idea!!
Sunday: 14miles @7.17min/miles
Monday: 9miles (approx)

Sunday 22 March 2009

Upping the Tempo

My runs for the rest of the week were:
Thurs: 7miles @7min/mile (147bpm)
Fri: am: 8.25miles @7.30 (145bpm) It was roasting!!
pm: 6.25 @7.10 (149bpm)
Onto Saturday - we debated going to Doha to watch Ireland play Wales knowing a win would give Ireland their first grand slam in 61 years, but alas we decided to stay in the camp and listen to it on the internet untill the stupid thing went down with 20minutes to go. (we won 17-15, good man RO'G!) But anyway, not going to Doha meant I could get a run in so decided to do a tempo as it had gone pretty well two weeks ago. Did a 10minute warm & 5miles at 5.54pace which I was happy with, although my splits were getting progressively slower. 5.50/5.50/5.56/5.56/5.59) which is something I need to work on. It was quite warm & by the end my HR hit 182bpm. Finished off with a 2mile warm down.
Total for week 72.5miles

Thursday 19 March 2009

Session

So I was a bit apprehensive about doing a session yesterday, afterall I had 7 or 8 bottles of Corona (that's a lot for me!) Paddy's night & didn't get to bed untill 1.30am or so, but I needn't have worried. The evening was nice and cool so I said there was no point in putting it off.
Managed to do 4x1mile in 5.14/5.27/5.27/5.31 . I really pushed to get under 5.30 for the last but there was nothing left in the tank. I have to admit I had a tailwind for the 1st one and for more than half of the rest of them, but the way I see it is that speedwork is hard enough so there's no point in doing it into a headwind.
My times did get slower which is not ideal, but pacing on the road is a lot tougher than on the track (especially when you're on your own) so I can live with that. Overall a very satisfactory session. (12 miles total)

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Hot n' Steamy

No I haven't decided to make the blog more 'adult themed', it's merely a comment on the weather these last few days, since sunday the temperatures have been hitting the mid 30's during the day and the humidity is quite high also. Humidity is the last thing I would have expected in the desert but I guess we are on a small peninsula sticking into a rather large gulf so maybe that explains it. So onto the running, finished off the easy week last week with 8.5,8 & 5.5. Decided not to do 8 on saturday as I felt tired on friday and thats not what easy weeks are about. Total for the week 47.3miles.

Started this week with my first 20 miler on Sunday and was reasonably pleased with the way it went. Started off at 7.15 pace and gradually brought it down to the low 7's and my last mile was 6.57. My Heart Rate was quite high however - it was into the high 150's by the end but I guess this may have been due to the heat & humidity. I took on water ever 4 miles or so but I guess the heat is still going to have an affect.


Managed 10 on Monday at 7.10 pace @ 147bpm on an even stickier evening so was glad to just get through it. Took yesterday off to celebrate St. Patricks day (see photo, I'm the guy with the beard!) and thankfully today is a bit cooler so should get a decent run in hopefully this evening...


Wednesday 11 March 2009

Down to Business

Ok s'pose I'll start with a summary of last weeks training:
Sunday 18miles -7min/mile Avg HR 147bpm
Monday 9miles - 7min/mile 149bpm
Tuesday: Session 11.2miles incl: 3xmiles (5.20/5.29/5.28) with 1/2mile recovery. Tough going!
Wednesday 7.2miles - 7min/mile 146bpm
Thursday 8.8miles - 7min/mile 147bpm
Friday 9.25miles - 7.09min/mile 147bpm
Saturday: Tempo run 4miles @ 5.54min/mile with 0.6mile cool down. Reason for this lunacy (ie no warm up & pretty much no cool down) was I was caught for time.
So a good enough week. My pace was a little slower than I would have liked as I had been knocking out 6.45min/miles without much difficulty in recent times. I guess it could be a combination of things. The food here is n't the most nutritious, not sleeping the best or maybe it's just the increase in mileage. Anyway there's nothing wrong with 7 minute miling OK!!!

This week (recovery week!!)
Sunday: Rest (went for Burgers off site)
Monday 8.36 miles - 7min/mile 144bpm
Tuesday 8.11 miles -6.58min/mile 147bpm
Wednesday 8.7miles - 6.58min/mile 147bpm

Ok stat's out of the way - next post will show a little more imagination...

Tuesday 10 March 2009

What's another year?


As Johnny Logan said! Yes it's almost exactly a year since I had an entry to this blog, shame on me. My excuse? Well they are numerous: 1. I was pissed off 'cos I did n't break the hour in BallyC. 2. Shortly after my last post I got injured (IT band syndrome) and was unable to train and race the marathon which was the whole point of the blog & 3. I moved back home and did n't have as much free time on my hands. Anyway enough of the excuses, onwards and upwards: A quick summary of the past 12 months:

March - got injured, struggled to get back

June/July - Finally got over my injury and started getting the mileage up

August - starting to get back in shape, managed a new PB for the half marathon

Sep-Dec - Form started to come good, then went, then came good again.

Jan- Unemployed so started training full time, paid off with a team gold at the Munster Senior X-country championships (needless to say I was last scorer)

Feb- Got Job - in Qatar so away from the wind and rain for a while!!

So I pretty much find myself in exactly the same position as last year - away from home and training for a marathon. I think I'm a little stronger than this time last year, but my most important mission is to stay injury free. Longest run has been 18 miles so far. On an easy week this week so that means a handy 8 miles each night with one day off (already taken on Sunday)